No amount of fiction can clear the TPLF's record

The TPLF regime has again, produced a string of accusations against Eritrea regarding Ethiopians living here. In an 'umpteenth' statement of its kind, the regime in Addis Ababa claims that Ethiopians are being "abducted of the streets...severely beaten...thrown in the streets and left for dead." The idea is very clear. The government in Addis Ababa is hoping that a smear campaign on Eritrea will deter attention from a year of unprecedented human rights violation by the government in Addis Ababa. But will it ever be possible for Ethiopia to hide the truth about what has happened to Eritreans in Ethiopia? To date the regime in Addis Ababa has:

* Arrested, jailed and deported over 60,000 Eritreans and Ethiopians of Eritrean descent from Ethiopia after taking all their personal property, valuables and any means of livelihood. Thousands of families have been split up and countless children separated from their parents as a result of the arbitrary abductions and deportations.
* Refused to release 1500 Eritrean civilians being imprisoned because of their ethnicity in Blatte prison camp. Several civilians have died while in these brutal camps.
* Barred 10,000 Eritreans from leaving Ethiopia after revoking their business licenses, refusing them employment papers and driving them to sell all their property thus, rendering them destitute.
* 'Disappeared' over 1,000 Eritreans from Addis Ababa and various towns. Eritrea's lodging of a formal complaint prompted this latest round of similar list-bearing statements from Addis Ababa.

These are all facts. The United Nations, the US Congress, Amnesty International and other concerned groups and governments have all expressed dismay at what has been happening to Eritreans in Ethiopia. Can the regime in Addis Ababa seriously hope to veil its own record by simply leveling fictitious accusations at Eritrea? The Government of Eritrea has invited the ICRC and other monitoring groups to verify the claims being made by Ethiopia regarding civilians in Eritrea. The international community must check Ethiopia's claim and determine for themselves where the truth lies. This duplicity can not be allowed to go uncondemned.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs=20
Asmara, June 8, 1999